Tactile sensor and tactile sensor arrays may be used in various applications to provide informations on the magnitude and the local distribution of pressure applied on a given surface area. As examples could be mentioned touch pads or drawing pads for character recognition in computer equipment, or contact pads for the determination and control of grip forces of a robotic gripping tool.
Such sensors widely known are using pressure sensitive devices based on piezo-resistive, piezo-electric or capacitive effects, and may be manufactured by thickfilm or thinfilm technologies, or using discrete elements. Miniaturization of such sensors is typically obtained by taking advantage of silicon micromachining processes. Common to these known sensors are relatively high costs for manufacturing and packaging.